The History of Coles Cranes Introduction

The final 38 years of the
history of Coles Cranes
1960 to 1998
The History of Coles Cranes
Introduction
This is one of two books about the history of Coles Cranes, a company which between the mid 1950s and
1980s became one of the largest mobile crane manufacturers on the world. By 1998 the last few workers walked off
the factory site and Coles Cranes was no more. This is the story of the growth of that business and the final decline.
When I started looking into Coles Crane it was just out of idle curiosity. In 1972 I went to work for Coles as a model
maker making display models of their cranes. While there I had
made a series of vintage models of key machines in the history of Coles.
Some thirty years later my curiosity had been awakened by finding some old photographic negatives of the models I
had made there. I wondered quite idly what vintage models they may have ask me to build if I had stayed there making
models. Little did I know this small thought was going to go on for over 14 years counting...
When I searched the internet, which had come into existence in the mean time, I found there was almost
nothing about Coles Cranes. I eventually found out that the company no longer existed. This came as a bit of a shock
as it was a massive company when I was working for it, what had happened. I found an article in a book about Coles,
it was just two pages long. I thought at the time there must be more to it then that, a major world wide company does
not just roll over and die just like that.
I started collecting photos of Coles Cranes and started the Coles Crane website. This sparked a lot of
interest form others who either worked there, owned a Coles crane or were just interested in cranes. Since that time
bits and peace’s of information have gradually filtered back to me through the Coles website. These books are an
assimilation of all those pieces of information and half forgotten memories and yes there was more to it, a lot more.
This was not just about building cranes this was about business, economics and government.
Any useful additional information or corrections can be
posted to me through the Coles Crane Website at
https://sites.google.com/site/colescranedatabase/home
A J Kemp - Jan 2015.
This is the photograph found in an old file that started
the whole project going, the first model I made for Coles
Cranes.
This was the Tilling Stevens lorry mounted mobile with a
2 ton lift and built in 1920. This was the tropical export
version built for the Karachi Harbour Trust,
There were no drawings for this machine so I had to
draw a set from couple of photographs.
The Books
History Book One
The first is a reproduction of a promotional book given to clients and agents produced 1979 by Coles
called, “Coles 100 years - The growth story of Europe’s Leading Crane Manufacturer - 1879 - 1979 ”. It was to
celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Coles Crane company by Henry James Cole in 1879.
This book laid out the history of Coles from the foundation to the then present day 1979. It was produced
to show the company was moving forward. The old history was fairly well covered but they were optimistic about
where the company was going in the future.
History Book Two
In the second book we pick up the story in the 1960s twenty years before the above book was produced.
We do this as the first book missed out a vital section in relation to the merger of Coles with Priestman Brothers. This
merger began to show cracks in the industry and in management thinking at the time. This book has the advantage of
hindsight but hopefully
gets closer to the truth of what happened to the company. In such a large company there are many stories here is the
basic story of what happened.
I include a lot of photographs as the people who will read this will be mostly enthusiasts who want pictures of real cranes.
Other Coles Crane books.
COLES COLOSSUS 6000
One crane that Coles built has a strong fascination for lovers of cranes was an oddity that probably should
never have been built The Colossus 6000. When built it was the largest mobile crane in the world, it had sixteen
wheels and could lift 250 tons. Only seven of these crane were ever built and five of them are still working today.
COLES STEAM RAIL MOBILE 3 TON CRANE of 1879
In the year they started their company 1879 Coles made their first recorded sale of a crane, it was for a
steam mobile crane. This crane was of a pattern similar most of the other cranes being built at the time. This shows the
basic crsne unit and other later models. I also describes how they were put together.
COLES VINTAGE CRANES 1879 - 1944
Coles cranes developed steadily throughout the years, every advance in engineering knowledge had been
adopted and adapted to improve their efficiency. As one of the earliest manufacturers to replace steam with internal
combustion engine Coles progressively developed and subsequently discarded mechanical transmission, hydraulic
transmission and different types of torque converter before arriving at the ideal transmission for crane operation the
Coles Variable Voltage System.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF HYDRAULICS IN CRANES
Under development
Right and Above.- Illustrious 45 Ton strut jib
truck could be configured as a tower.
Right - Adonis Mobile with cantilever jib 10 Ton.
COLES FROM THE 1960s
By the late 1960s Coles, which was at this time part of the company Steels
Engineering Products Ltd, had three factories in the United Kingdom producing
cranes.
Sunderland. - This the “Crown Works” was the main factory where there was a
range of cranes being produced, among them the Aeneas, Proteus, Argus, Vigorous,
Illustrious, Centurion, Valiant, Ranger, Liea, Endurance, Doninant and Conqueror.
Many of these were available in different option as mobile, lorry mounted, rail, semi
and full tower units. Also the newly developed Hydra hydraulic cranes were beginning
to make an impact and production increased.
Right - View if the Crown
Works taken in 1968.
Hydra strut jib in
forground and an early
Hydra 01 Ton behind.
Left - Taylors 5 Ton 4x2
Speedcrane 1962
Above Right - The LT
range like this 143 Ton
strut jib LT4000.1966
Glzenbuty. - This was the old factory of F. Taylor & Sons which was ending its lines of Jumbo and Jib carrier cranes
and moving onto the production of the Hydra Speedcranes and the Smaller of the Hydra Truck series of cranes.
Grantham. - This was where R H Neal Ltd had been in business
since 1939, although incorporated into Coles they were still making a
range of their own diesel mechanical cranes and a hydraulic Hymax
hybrid. A new hydraulic introduced based on the Hydra truck was a
rough terrain unit called the Husky, these would eventually become
the sole production of this factory as the range extended and became
a massive export success.
Left - First Husky 12 Ton 4x4 1967
Germany - In 1955 a factory was set up in Germany under the
name of “Coles Krane”. This factory started by assembling the
English Coles lattice boom cranes which were shipped over from
Sunderland. Although under the managemant of Coles from 1968 the
cranes where completely German designs. Among the most notable
of these were the LT lattice jib series which went up to 150 tons and
the hydraulic LH 1000 of 98 ton.
Darlington - Another new Factory was opened at Darlington
in 1969 with the intention of making the Colossus 6000, a
crane which was to become legendary and virtually obsolete
at the same time. This factory was eventually to be used to
produce the ‘Hydramobile’ range.
Right - The Colossus 6000
much loved by everyone
except the people who had to
used it.
Left - The Hydramobile
modern replacement the EMA
Right - TIL was originally establsihed
as a joint venture between Coles Cranes
and Tractors India, its distributor, in
1962. It changed its name in 1970 to
the Indian Crane Company and then
back to TIL.
As well as these factories directly run by Coles there were links and
cooperative deals between other factories round the world. The Australian
plant was making up to 60 units a year. Assembly plants were set up in
Brazil, India, South Africa and Poland.
Coles was now one of the biggest names in the crane world and known
for reliability and quality.
Coles were covering the whole spectrum of the mobile crane world from the
massive Colossus to small factory mobile runabouts.
This covered rails cranes and the latest technology in the form of the new
evolving hydraulic cranes.
Above - Gargantua Lattice Boom Truck
63 Ton 8x4 1966
Right - The first Hydra Truck 12 Ton
4x2 on test in 1966
Far Right - The Gladiator 25 Ton rail.
Below - Ranger Truck 30T 8x4 1966
Centre - badge given to drivers trained
at the Coles driver training school
It was this success of Coles that led the crane
and excavator firm of “Priestman Brothers” into
thinking that Coles may make a good parter to find
assistance with their expanding world wide market. It
was 1968 and Priestmans were a successful firm but
now found them selves overwhelmed by a fast
moving and expanding worldwide market place.
Right - A scarce early (c1910)
advertising postcard for Priestman
Dredging, Excavating and
Elevating equipment depicting
steam cranes mounted on a barge
and on rail.
William Dent Priestman, an engineer and Quaker, founded Priestman Bros. Ltd in 1870
at the age of 23 with Robert Sizer. The premises were at Holderness Foundry, James
Street, Drypool, Hull and at 9 Castle Street, Hull. The company repaired and manufactured replacement parts for flour, oil, paint and sugar mills.
The partnership ended in 1872 and the company was renamed William Dent Priestman
and Company. William’s brother Samuel joined not long after and the company became
Priestman Brothers. The range of products included printing machinery, fire bars,
dampers and paddle steamers. In the mid 1870’s the firm specialised in grab dredgers,
for use in water, expanding into grab excavators for use on land. The company were the
first to produce an oil engine in 1887, winning them the Royal Agricultural Society’s
silver medal. Oil engines became another speciality of the firm. The Castle Street
premises were let go and the company opened offices in London.
Above - Priestman Panther
dragline.
Far Right - Small crane built
in the early 20th Century. It is
located at the Hull Transport
Museum in High Street.
By the First World War, its cranes were being used to
rebuild French villages , and by 1921, a small
"ditcher" for field drainage was produced, followed
by funding from the Ministry of Agriculture for
further developments.
In 1928, Priestmans produced the first of their "animal-named" excavators. Such names
as the Lion, Tiger and Panther would later become synonymous with Priestmans.
Sydney Herbert Priestman joined the company in 1897, patenting many grab designs
and Philip Priestman joined the company in the 1909. During the early twentieth
century the demand for grabs increased, by 1939 the company employed 650 people
and 800 people by 1948. The company moved to a new works in Hedon Road,
Marfleet. Hull in 1951. Work started on their Marfleet base in 1950. It would eventually
cover 63 acres in Hull, and by 1963, when the firm embraced hydraulic power, it had
long been a household name. Demand was so great in the 1950’s order books were
filled for years ahead. Subsidiary companies were set up in Canada (1956), Australia
(1961), Sweden (1965) and United States of America (1960’s). There products were
exported all over the world.
Below - Priestman backhoe
excavator from about 1975
Below Right - Priestman Club one
of the most popular small models.
PRIESTMANS JOIN COLES
In the 1960s Priestman Brothers had developed many new
products and were stretched both financially and structurally on sales
force and marketing strategy. To move forward they needed support.
Priestmans had made heavy losses prior to 1969 so the Priestman
Board decided to approach the Steel Group, the parent company
which owned Coles, suggesting a possible merger.
Priestmans did not want a takeover they wanted to benefit from the sales
experience and worldwide cover to help with the export of their
excavators. Priestmans saw their business in excavators as
complementary to the Coles range as they also made hydraulic
excavators and crawler tracks.
Above - An advert from Priestmans of 1891
Left below - Coles combine Priestmans track
technology with their own units as here with the
Supertrac 330
The Steel Group headed originally by Sir James Steel, owned
several companies, Steels Engineering Ltd, Alston Foundry and Coles
Cranes Ltd which included Tailors and Neals. To this group Steels
now added Priestman Brothers Ltd bringing with it Taperex Bearings
Ltd formed in 1962 which manufactured a highly successful Slew
Ring, this was later to be floated as a separate company.
Although the addition of Priestmans to the Steel group seemed from
both sides to be a good idea it was in reality a disaster from both
companies point of view. What was to follow in the next decade may
not have been able to be avoided but the merger did highlight major
problems in the UK heavy plant industry.
Priestmans looked to the big brother of Coles for support and
help. During early 1960s the Managing Director, of Priestman
Brothers ltd., was Philip Priestman, with his cousin Sydney Herbert
Priestman as Technical Director. ( a truly formidable engineer who
died in 1966).
Philip‘s son was James D. Priestman became Managing Director and his
father became Life President. After the 1969 merger James was
appointed Deputy Chairman of the Steels group and he assumed he
would represent Priestman’s interests at Steels. James certainly
assumed that the companies of Coles and Priestman’s would work
together in a spirit of mutual cooperation.
Above Left - Hydra 13 Ton 4x2 1969
Below Left - The massive LH1000 100 Ton 1973
Below Right - Husky 13/17 13 Ton 4x4x4 TCC 1971
COLES DOMINATE AND THE NAME RETURNS
James Priestman, naively, did not reckon on the ruthless nature of some
Coles directors who cared little about his management style at Priestmans.
Some months later in a board room showdown he was voted off the board
completely and this shut him out of any control of his own company; this
understandably left James embittered.
In Hull Norman Brocklebank, the then Technical Director and fine engineer, was appointed as Managing
Director of Priestman and he rode a very tricky existence in this position for many years. He was superb diplomatic
politician and could teach anyone about management survival.
Left - Priestman Lion
harbour mobile from
MC350 from 1982
now re-badged with
Coles.
Right - Coles 15ton
Adonis cranes were
chosen as support
cranes on the London
Thames Barrier.
Steels were now the dominant crane manufacturer in the UK, trading under the banner of “British Crane and
Excavator Corporation Ltd”. As Coles was now over 75% of their operation they decided in 1970 to rename the
whole group “Coles Cranes”. Priestmans, Neals and Taylors who had been partly been trading under their own brand
names now had their machines badged as Coles, which has lead to some confusion when identifying particular
machines. Priestmans did not fair well under the merger, as far as the Coles board were concerned it was a subsidiary
and far from being complimentary to the Coles market it was a defferent market and was seen as a bit of an irritation.
Aside - Public and Private Companies
Here I think we should take a small aside to explain the difference between a private and public company as
this is relevant here and later on in the story.
In a Private company the ownership is usually just a few people. These are commonly smaller businesses.
Their shares are not traded on the stock exchange. Their accounts do not need to be audited and their financial
statements are private.. The focus of this type of management generally is to keep the company going and make a
good product. Anyone wishing to take over a private company has to negotiate directly with the owners.
Public company has Ownership rights (Shares) traded on the stock exchange. Anyone can have part ownership of
the company. Their accounts are audited and are public information. These shareholders get part of the company’s
assets and profits. Companies go public mainly to rase money for expansion or development.
Owners keep control by only issuing a maximum of 49% of the shares to the public. Part of the legal requirement
however is that the public shareholders have representation on the board of the company. These appointed
directors are not necessarily interested in the company as much as the worth of the company and what dividend it
pays.
The problem for the original owners comes when another share issue has to be made or a share for share merger
take place and the owners find themselves a minority shareholder. The appointed directors can now take over and
remove the original owner from the board, as happened with Priestmans. It also leaves itself exposed to a hostile
takeover, where a larger perhaps rival ferm buys enough shares to take over against the wishes of the original owners.
TROUBLE AT THE TOP
Priestmans was certainly not a priority in Coles management thinking. in the early 1970s as with all the
expansion and continued development of new cranes the company was becoming unmanageable. There was an
awareness in the Coles boardroom that things were not going as well as would seem from the outside. Although the Coles
group was still producing a large number of crane units they were not making much profit, material and supply costs were
increasing and over manning was rife as unions held strong control over most shop floor operations.
A reorganisation program was instigated by the board, the aim was to rationalise production, sales and servicing arms
of all the companies with the aim of reducing unit costs and increasing profits. Reorganising a large company however
is not easy, the bigger a company gets the larger the inertia and increased resistance to change.
Above Left - 1970
Speedcrane 6T 4x2
1970
Above Right - M50
mobile 5 Ton -4x2 1971
made in Germany
Below Right - Hydra
30 Ton 8x4 1970
Aside - Large company organisation
Large companies and large organisations of any kind are very strange beasts.
People think of them as like a super tanker, very large, very slow but moving in one
direction with a captain in charge.
Unfortunately this is far from the truth, they are more like racing cars going round a
track. They are all going in the same direction but each car, (each department,) is jockeying for
position, looking after itsself. Some race ahead, some drive steady on the inside lane trying not
to be noticed. Although there is a corporate identity this is secondary to staying in the car and
the race. The management is in the pits and arguing on how to make the cars go faster, they
occasionally see the cars flash past but rarely stop to see what is doing on inside them. Getting
all the cars to run at the same speed and in the correct order is difficult and the more cars there
are on the track the harder this becomes.
The reorganisation began with centralising the,
Design, Sales and Servicing teams into central groups to
reduce staff and overheads. This created a lot of friction
as staff were moved about, Priestman staff were moved
to Sunderland and Sunderland staff to the Sales and
Marketing Division at Steel House in Eastcote
Middlesex.. The problem was that heavy machinery is
very specialised, there were so many different models of
cranes and diggers, the sales and service teams had to
know their machines and markets. The markets were
different for Coles, Priestmans, Neals and Taylors, so
clients became confused and did not knew where to go
for purchase, servicing or spares. This piecemeal change
began to unsettle staff throughout the firm.
To streamline production they decided to the reduce number of cranes in their
catalogue. At this time in 1971 Coles had 42 cranes, Neals had at least 9 and
Priestmans had at least as many in the range. All cranes however were still made to
order with client specified variations and old models as well were still supported
with servicing and parts.
They decided to concentrate on the main area of growth in the crane sector the
crane hire market and hydraulic cranes. They set out three main sectors to
develop, first the yard mobile lift and carry, this would be covered by a range
of small Speedcranes of 5 to 10 tons. The second group would be the truck
mounted hydraulic the Hydra from 10 to 40 ton. Thirdly would be the new
expanding market for Husky all terrain crane, these would develop fom the 15
ton eventually to 50 ton. Heavy and long boom lift would rely on the existing
lattice boom cranes.
Left - Zealous Truck 60 Ton 8x4 as tower 1969
Above - Adonis Mobile (C) 10 Ton 4x2 1969
Right - Hydra 18/20 Ton 6x4 1972
Left - Zealous Truck 60 Ton 8x4 1969
At this time Coles had a monopoly of crane production in the UK but competition from foreign firms was beginning to
increase. As most of Coles output was for export the pressure began to show on sales. Rising cost of parts, materials
and labour and bad exchange rates in international markets, all meant low profits. This sapped the confidence of investors. It takes time to change attitudes and direction in a large company and it needs a particular type of focused management, which Coles did not seem to have. The effect of all this was to see the company’s value on the open share
market drop in the London Stock Exchange. This in itself may not have mattered in the long term. However there was
an activity in the investment markets at this time which the board of Coles would or should have been aware of, but
they were too busy looking internally and took their eye off the real danger which was hitting many UK companies at
this time, asset stripping.
Below Left - Vigorous Mobile 40 Ton 4x2 1969
Below Right- Centurion Truck 100 Ton 8x4
Aside - Asset Stripping
Asset stripping was a phenomenon which emerged in the late sixties and early seventies. It is a completely
financial activity where an investment group buy up shares in a public company where the cost to buy the shares is
lower than the total asst value of the company. Having bought the company they then shut it down and sell the
assets, usually machinery building and land. This although immoral was at the time entirely legal.
This whole business of Asset Stripping came about by the prosperity generated by the very companies that fell
victim to it and very poor company accounting. When businesses like Coles were set up they needed big factories but at a
very cheap price so they generally bought large site outside the boundary of a city or town from which they would draw
their work force. Over the fifty years or so that these businesses became successful, the towns had grown and surrounded
the factories, Now the factory was no longer standing on cheap countryside it was sitting on prime value city real-estate
land. Many businesses had never factored this increase in property value into their asset value.
To the asset stripper the value was not in the machinery and buildings, which were generally old and out of date anyway, it
was the land which was the value and the profits to be made were huge.
One of the major players in this field was the company of Slater Walker. The Company was founded by Jim Slater and
Peter Walker, a Tory MP. In 1964 it was authorised as an investment bank. Using their own funds they became legendary
asset strippers or corporate raiders as they became known. The Slater Walker conglomerate eventually collapsed amid
stock market turmoil in 1975 when they got into financial difficulties.
Coles continued to develop in entire range enabling ever heavier lifting capacity.
Left - Husky 150 15 Ton 4x4x4 TCC 1972
While in Germany the Coles Krane continued plowing its own furrow with some large heavy machines
Right - Coles Krane LT 5000 Truck 250 Ton 12x10 1971
THREAT OF SHUTDOWN
Even as Coles Management and Board od Directors were trying to turn the company round, in the latter part
of 1971 the Board became aware that company shares were being bought up. They quickly found out it was a takeover bid from Crittall Hope a subsidiary of Slater Walkers. Corporate trading regulations prevent a company in this
position from buying it own shares (which would force the price up) to beat off the take-over, even if they had the
money which Coles did not.
Sir James Steel, the former Managing Director of the Steels Group, came out of “retirement” so to speak and hunted
for someone to take over the whole Steel Group, to safeguard it from what seemed like inevitable closure. Sir James
used his contacts within the city of London to see if they could find a ‘white knight’. One of these contacts a London
merchant bank approached “William de Vigier” to see if he was interested in taking on the Coles group.
TAKING STOCK 1970 - 1972
Between 1971 and 1972, the family run Steel Group had raised its turnover from £37 7 million to £38 3 million, and
seen group profit before tax decline from £3 .4 million to £2.3 million on undervalued assets of £l7.5 million. De Vigier took it
on within a fortnight on the evidence of the balance sheet alone. De Vigier was very pro British and wanted to save one of
worlds best known companies from closure.
The deal was that he would exchange shares in his very profitable Acrow Group, for Coles shares in value terms. The deal
was completed on 5th April 1972, this meant that Coles became a subsidiary of Acrow putting Coles in the same position that
Priestmans had found themselves in, a small part of a larger group. This meant that to take over the Coles company, Slater
Walker would have to take over Acrow, which even if they could, would cost them far more than the ‘asset’ value of Coles.
The takeover was stopped in it tracks. In fact De Vigier now owned the majority of shares in the Acrow/Coles Coles empire
and would not sell anyway.
Heavy Line, West Factory (Left)
Foreground left - Illustrious Diesel Electric
Tower Crane, with manual outriggers,
including - you can just see-the folding rear
outriggers for tower erection.
Foreground right probably a Hydra 33/36T
with hydraulic outriggers,minus its boom.
Middleground left what looks like a
Gargantua surestructure ready for mounting.
Behind that an Illustrious or Zealous chassis.
Then a Gargantua chassis. Then at the rear a
centurion which looks just about complete.
Hydra Shop (Right)
2 lines of Hydra 12T and 15T (2 and 3 axle
denotes difference). Note the mixture of right
and left hand drives.
By 1972 at the time of the take-over,
both Coles and Priestman had product lines
which were now using hydraulic technology
which had been developed largely during the
1950s and 1960s. Both had excellent
reputations for quality, reliability and
product innovation. Both were facing the
threat of increasing competition, particularly
from American and Japanese manufacturers,
and both needed more modern production
facilities if they were to face that
competition
The three older established Coles factories in the UK all had undergone a certain amount of. modernisation in the
past. Sunderland had been given a major facelift in the late 1940s and Glazebury and Grantham had money spent on new
production facilities shortly after the 1959 takeovers. However, all three were essentially oldfashioned, showing the signs of
their respective ages. Equally important, the company had no proper research facilities.
The Acrow Group
& William de Vigier
William Aphonse de Vigier was born in 1912 in Solothurn, Switzerland.
In 1935, aged 24 he arrived in London with only 1,000 francs, (roughly £50) in his pocket and an idea for an adjustable scaffold prop. He soon realised that he would have to manufacture it himself, so he rented a small premises
under the railway at Bow Arches in east London, and approached a well known local solicitor Arthur Crow to establish the company, but the cost for doing so was £32, far more than he could pay, given that the deposit on the
Arches and on the offices around the corner in Charterhouse square were £15.
De Vigier persuaded Arthur Crow to give him six months credit on his fee and, partly out of gratitude and partly on
the basis that it would always come near the top in any directory or listing, he used the solicitors name for his new
company which became Acrow (engineers) Ltd. the name was also used for his product the “Acrow Prop” which
soon became a generic name in the UK construction industry for such props.
He quickly found, as countless others have since, that
introducing a new concept is not easy. He struggled for the first
few months with very few sales, but thanks to Sir Robert
McAlpine & Sons and Peter Lind a Danish company, things
eventually started to take off and by 1939 he had sold over
40,000 props. He was always grateful to these two forward
looking companies and always made a point to give them credit
for their part in his success.
In 1938 Acrow moved into their first “proper” factory in
Slough and de Vigier and his company were on their way.
During the war Acrow’s production was largely diverted to the
war effort, making tank and aircraft parts, as well as formwork
for the Mulberry harbours that were used in the D-Day landings.
After the war, the company went public. At the British
Industries Fair in 1947 they are listed as manufacturers of a
Mobile Unit Storage system described as Accessible Storage of
Universal Acro Prop found on nearly every building site.
Records, Stationery, and all classes of goods.
The name has become generic for this kind of support.
During 1949 Acrow became public company and started on a wave of expansion though acquisitions, both in the
UK and overseas. This turned Acrow into a truly global business. New businesses included steel Bailey bridges,
scaffolding and formwork.
By the 1960s they were making pit props and mining supports and the following year were listing the manufacture
of equipment and plant for the building, agricultural and forestry trades.
trades.
* Above information from GracesGuide.
Right - pressed and fabricated steel
Below - Equipment for the building
Left - Bailey Bridges
ACROW TAKE OVER - 1972
When ask about the takeover De Vigier said “Everyone in engineering knew
Coles and Priestmans. Their products are first class, and if the workers were producing
first class products, the lack of a proper return indicated a management problem to
me.”
From the companies in what might be called the old Acrow, there was strong feeling of
family unity as they had been gradually built up by one man. But in many respects, the
take-over of the Steel Group was to a real test of that corporate spirit. Of the two
major components of the acquisition, Acrow found it could handle Priestmans as it had
previously handled other acquisitions; but Coles cut across its accepted practices,
although it promised to become glamorously profitable, the fit between the two
companies was a very much muted affair.
Up to that point in 1972 , apart from the business being in a decline, there had been very little actual trouble at the
Steels factories. Coles was about 75% of the whole operation, and it was from Coles that trouble was to come. Priestmans
and Steel’s engineering subsidiary needed liberation more than anything else. It was very obvious you had to restore the soul
of ‘Priestmans,’ considered de Vigier. Priestmans itself had been taken over by Steels and come off worst. It made hydraulic
excavators, crawler cranes and grab dredging cranes, also major components like grabs, grapples and massive roller bearings
for cranes. The Steel Group had felt that these lines (outside the new bearing range) would complement Coles mobile cranes
between 4 and 250 tons capacity. In particular, all Coles cranes were wheel mounted, while Priestmans had the crawler
technology.
Above left - Husky-18/22 18T 4x4x4 1973
Above right - Hydra 18/20T 6x4 1972
Below left - Colossus 6000 250T 1975
Below right - Husky 20/25 4x4x4.1974
.
Norman Brocklebank, already managing director of Priestmans, pressed for the
Steel Group take-over, “but we were poor relation in the partnership. We were struggling
and Coles was prosperous.” Brocklebank had rescued Priestmans from a heavy loss
prior to 1969, but then the old Coles managemant lumped the Priestman sales force and
service engineers into Coles, because they thought it would save money somehow,
especially on the service side.
Priestmans always seemed to come second in their priorities. After the Acrow
take over, which Brocklebank first read about in the Yorkshire Post, they waited for the
occupying forces. An investigating team arrived, then de Vigier himself. Acrow took
over halfway through a trading year and Priestmans were making a loss. De Vigier
asked what Brocklebank wanted. He said “ to be allowed to get on with the job.”
He said he thought they ought to have a show and let the world know they were in
there fighting. It cost £30,000, but in the second half of the year they recouped the
first half loss and made small profit.’
Coles and Priestmans took some untangling, but ‘it was De Vigiers encouragement that did the job, recalled Brocklebank fondly.
Coles itself was a vastly different proposition. Once more, its product range was sound enough. It was already the
leading crane manufacturer in Europe It had three other factories in the UK and a manufacturing subsidiary in Germany, as
well as the troublesome Sunderland. Trouble had started at Sunderland with the unions under the previous management when
they tried to introduce efficiencies in the Crown Works. Bill Jack, now Managing Director, arrived 15 months after the takeover, during which time Coles troubles had deepened. ”I played it very cool to start with everybody was jumpy. The timetable
had run from take over to redundancy to strike to the three day week and the manning director had just left.” The Sunderland
factory had lost £1.7 million in that time. ‘ The chairman told me very little and said get on with it.”
The plusses Jack had to work with were solid marketing, sales and design teams; but not much attention had been
paid to the rest of the business.. A whole tier of middle management was simply missing and Jack had to recruit 32 people.
Financial control had been so complex as to be effectively lacking. There was no personnel function, and in a business where
50% of the cost of a crane is in materials, very little attention had been paid to purchasing.
Finally, no planning was done. The firm
had been content to swing with the financial
capital cycles every three or four years. That in
turn had meant that people on the shop floor
had been taken on to meet demand, capacity
planning was absent.
Cranes became ever bigger with longer reach.
Top of page - RT2000 Tracked Mobile 70T 1982
Right - Hydra 80/88 Ton 10x4 1978
Below right - Husky 36/40 AT 36T 4x4x4 TSC 1977
Below - Supertruck 840 8x4 40T 1980
Speedcrane 10/12 12Ton 4x2 1980
Husky 23/25 23Ton 4x4x4 TSC 1978
WORST FEARS FULFILLED
Take-overs are an edgy enough undertaking in any case and as soon as Acrow arrived, the worst fears of the shop
floor were fulfilled. De Vigier’s business sensibilities were offended by over manning almost more than by anything else and he
decreed, on the advice of the former management, a redundancy of 10% across the board was seen to be necessary. The
result was a strike that dragged on for 13 weeks and inevitably left a bitter shop floor about the new management. The work
force around Sunderland was traditionally suspicious of management. This was further upset by the three day week. ( A three
day working week was imposed in the UK by the Edward Heath’s government in 1974 in attempted to preserve dwindling
fuel coal supplies due to a long miners strike.) The whole of Bill Jacks first 12 months were spent making his presence felt on
the shop floor - “ just shop floor, shop floor.” he was quoted as saying.
He brought in the Industrial Society (an independent negotiating body.) to look at industrial relations and they first created
machinery for management union negotiation, then set about improving communications by means of briefing groups and
consultative committees of managers and shop stewards, and by holding mass meetings to discuss the works problems. Just
as important, the factory was divided into four shops - primary manufacture, machining and sub-assembly, assembly and
finishing - of between 400 and 500 people, each under its own works manager, in an attempt to duplicate the smaller scale of
manufacture and communications at other Acrow factories.
Once the 13 week strike was settled, output was what they had to aim for above anything else, simply to get people working.
Bill Jack could then move on to other priorities. There were five big programmes set under way. a) value engineering, because
“ you need to look critically and continuously at your own designs “ b) Standardisation, c) the reorganisation of material
management; d) the continuation of industrial relation improvements and e) And programs for reorganising the Crown works in
Sunderland, which had no proper flow lines and into which too little capital investment had been channelled of recent years,
none at all in while there had been industrial strife.
Husky 150 15T 4x4x4 1977
Ranger AT525 25T 4x4 1982
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
This reorganisation counted as long term programmes but there was much to do in the shorter term. Coles had been
drained of its lifeblood by suppliers who put in high price increases and the pattern of these had to be evened out with a new
system of payment introduced. A consultancy company had been brought in previously during 1968 / 69 to develop a wage
plan based on productivity but entailing expensive layers of supervision. That was uprooted in favour of a piecework system
geared to the output of finished cranes. The “Steel Engineering” section had to be moved out of Coles Crown Works yard
and moved to a factory of its own away from the main plant. Financial controls had to be tightened. In all, output was pushed
up 38% in five months and since that time Coles came into profit to the tune of around £3 million annually, although the
German subsidiary, Coles Krane, continued to lose an unhealthy £250,000 or so.
De Vigier pumped money into new production facilities at all the Coles factories. In 1972, Grantham had seen virtually
no new building since the late 1940s. By I978, only one wall remained of the old factory; everything else had been rebuilt.
Similarly Glazebury, Sunderland and Darlington (which Coles established in 1969) were modernised, a process that continued
into the 1980s.
Massive developments had also taken place in the product line. In an increasingly competitive market and utilising a
product technology which was still in its infancy as far as cranes were concerned, Coles in 1972 had a product line which
needed to be revamped once more. Work was started on a new integrated range in each of the categories of hydraulic crane
which had been developed in the mid 1960s. During the period 1975-77 these new machines were progressively introduced,
giving crane users a uniquely comprehensive choice of telescopic boom cranes.
In 1973 the LH1000 was introduced, a truck mounted Hydraulic Crane with telescopic boom, this was made in the German
Factory..
Between 1975 and 1977 new ranges of Speedcranes, Hydraulic Trucks and Huskies were introduced.
In 1976 de Vigier opened a new Research Centre at the Crown Works in Sunderland and the following year the new Jubilee
Factory with a new assembly line also at the Sunderland works.
Left - The New
Research Center
at Sunderland
1976
Right - Husky
630S 30T 4x4x4
1982
Below - Things get
bigger with the
Octag 8130
130Ton 12x6 1982
Around this time shipping containers began to be used more
extensively for sea transport so some of the smaller ports wanted some kind
of mobile heavy lifting crane. In response Coles in 1978 with the
collaboration of the German factory developed a “Mobile Port Tower”
crane the “Colossus HPT”. It was a range based on the L4000, L4200 and
L5000 with special lifting frames to fit containers. This port tower could
also be fitted to the Colossus 6000 but by this time it had almost been
phased out of production.
In 1979 Coles produced a small book
charting the history of Coles for the 100 year
anniversary of the founding of the company by
Henry James Coles in 1879.
(left - also available as PDF download)
Right - Ccolossus L4000 (HPT) Luffing Port
Ttower 300T 12x8 1976
Below - Hydramobile 911 9T 4x2 1976 - Now at the
Museum Of Power.
In 1976 work was also begun on the development of a
crane which would supersede the general purpose mobiles, the
descendants of the EMA of 1937. During 1977 the Hydramobile
911 was field tested and early in 1978 was officially launched.
Combining the simplicity of the
diesel-electric machines with the versatility of hydraulics, the
Hydramobile 911 was the first of a new generation of general
purpose cranes. By 1980 the descendants of the EMA had gone
the way of their truck mounted counterparts.
In 1982 the Coles Adonis Strut 15 Ton crane was
chosen to be fitted as part of the maintenance support units
for The Thames Barrier , seven on the pontoons and three
on support barges and quayside.
Above - Adonis on Thames Barrier 1982
Left - Coles AT 20 Ton Ranger 1983
A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM
With all the investment into the Coles group Acrow managed to hold onto its market share for a while but there was
strong competition from European manufacturers and this was hitting Coles foreign markets .
In the early 1980s sterling became an important petro currency with the production of oil in the north sea. The pounds
value rose rapidly on the foreign exchange markets. Combined with rising interest rates, sterling appreciated from £1 to $1.5
to $2.5. This appreciation in the pound adversely affected Britain’s exports and especially the manufacturing sector. It was
here that the UK suffered the worst affects of the 1981 recession.
This recession along with a poor currency exchange rate, plus inflationary pressures, caused exports to become more
expensive abroad, this saw the loss of much of Coles export market. The decline in foreign trade hit the Grantham factory
hard as most of its production, which was now just the Husky range, went into the export market.
Left Below - Supertruck AT 820 20 Ton 6x6x2 1983
Right Below - Husky 680 TSC 80 Ton 4x4x4 1984
Acrow was in trouble for despite the huge investment in Coles, which was now the greatest part the Acrow Group
and despite continued sales it was not making money. De Vigier began a drastic slimming down process across all the Coles
group sector in a bid to cut expenditure and losses. Now the whole of the Acrow Group, including the old Acrow companies
were now irrevocably tied into survival fortunes of the Coles crane division.
Grantham and Glazenbury were the first to feel the impact of these measures. By 1982 the management at the
Grantham found themselves having to give workers an hour to volunteer for voluntary redundancy before shedding 95 jobs
due to the slump in orders. The factory went to working one week on and one off but later that year both Grantham and the
Glazenbury works closed as part of the rationalisation exercise. In 1983 the Darlington factory then producing the
Hydromobile series was put into mothballs, effectively shut down pending better times. The German factory Coles Krane in
Duisburg did not fair any better it too was closed down in 1982.
All this however was just part of the bigger picture going on in the country at large, where all of heavy industry was
loosing their markets to foreign competition.
Below - Transet 525 30 Ton 4x4x4 1983
On the political front the elections in 1979 brought the
Conservative party into government. They were determined to tackle
both inflation and the large budget deficit. Extreme deflationary
policies were implemented. First taxes were raised and government
spending cut. Interest rates were increased as the government sought
to reduce inflation. These deflationary policies did have the effect of
reducing inflation, however it was at the cost of falling Aggregate
Demand and lower economic growth. By the middle of 1980 the
economy had been plunged into full scale recession but the
government still pursued its deflationary policies. Unemployment
reached the unprecedented level of 3 million.
THE END OF THE ROAD
Acrow had borrowed heavily to restructure the Coles companies, this money was borrowed on the increasing sales
and value of the company shares. With the collapse of international trade generally in the early 1980’s the Acrow Group found
it was in trouble and by the early part of 1984 could not service the debt it had built up restructuring Coles. This meant that
not only could it not pay even the interest in on the £ 51 million owed to the banks but could not draw any more money to
provide working capital. This meant that it could not trade, pay its workers or buy materials without borrowing more money.
Effectively Acrow were bankrupt.
The management at Coles headed by the managing director Duncan Wordsworth were well aware of what was going
on and started to make plans for the inevitable. Some weeks before the eventual end, an unwritten edict came from
‘somewhere’ above to the finishing department managers, the Crane assembly, Test Bed, Paint and Dispatch units “ Do Not
Fully Complete any end product” meaning leave off the odd last component. During the following weeks the Sunderland
factory was littered with dozens of cranes 95-98% complete.
In October 1984 Barclays, as lead bank of about 20 others creditor banks made the decision to put the whole of the
Acrow group including Coles and Priestmans into Receivership.
Aside - Receivership
When a company goes bankrupt it is said that it is put into
receivership, the creditors, in this case the banks, hand over the
company to accredited Auditors, (accountants approved in this
case by the Bank of England). The Auditors take over control of
the company to try and recover as much money as they can from
its assets. They try to sell the business if they can as a going
concern (an operating business), to the highest bidder. Any
remaining parts plant land buildings etc would be closed and the
assets sold to recover what they could of the debt.
PICKING UP THE PIECES
After the auditors had taken over the running of Coles, the process of winding up the organisation began, closure was
not immediate but things had to move fast as there was no money to carry on for long, within a week everyone at the
Sunderland works was made redundant.
At this point the management team headed by D. Wordsworth put in a bid for the whole of the Coles crane business
to the receiver of £9,000,000. Part of their thinking was the knowledge that they would not have a cash flow problem if the
bid was successful because they would have millions of pounds worth of virtually completed cranes which basically just
needed painting and dispatching. It is unlikely that this ruse would have escaped the notice of the auditors as this was stock
and valued into the audit. The bid was also under the condition of a debt write off, which even if achieved would have made
credit for trading almost impossible to achieve.
The auditors wanted to recoup some of the outstanding debt so were looking for a buyer for any or all parts of the
Coles group which of course included the Acrow group. As all European crane manufacturers were by this time losing market
share to fierce competition from the Japanese and other far eastern companies, European buyers were not fighting to take on
a large loss making concern like Coles.
While all this was going on however an American crane manufacturer
called Grove. Grove had been watching events at Coles unfold with
enormous interest and saw a golden opportunity to obtain a proper European
crane manufacturing plant with all of its sophisticated designs for ATs (all
terrain cranes) which were in great in demand across Europe. Grove put in a
bid to the receiver of £14,000,000 for the business, which was accepted.
The up front purchase price was not the main factor for their winning
bid it was more the fact they had a large financial investment backing with
which to take the business forward.
In 1947, John Landis Grove,
together with his brother Dwight and
partner Wayne Nicarry, established
Grove Manufacturing in the village of
Shady Grove, Pa. Located in a rented
two-car garage, the firm's initial
business was manufacturing farm
wagons. After an unsuccessful search
for a small commercial yard-type
Far Right - The first Grove
crane - 2 Ton, non slewing, three crane to lift steel plates, the company
wheel, hydraulic. 1949
built its own mobile crane in 1949.
The 2-ton-capacity none slewing crane was built on a three-wheel frame with steering actuated by the single rear
wheel, and propulsion provided by the two front wheels. A simple twin-cylinder hydraulic hoist raised and lowered the
boom to which the load was attached. Although crude by today's standards, the unit not only met the needs of its inventor,
but also This unit attracted a lot of attention from local businesses that could see its potential.
Realizing there was a market for small yard cranes, Grove refined his 2-ton machine and introduced it to the marketplace.
Word soon spread by 1955 Grove was supplying cranes to dozens of neighboring businesses.
When Grove Manufacturing gained some experiences with this first
crane, they introduced real commercial yard crane in 1952. By 1959 Grove
introduced a 4x4 all wheel steered unit quickly followed by a truck-mounted
fully hydraulic twenty five tonner. By 1965 the thousandth Grove crane had
rolled off the assembly line and by 1972 they had sold their two thousandth.
Grove rapidly grew and prospered, shipping its 20,000th crane in 1979, and
its 50,000th in 1997, the same year the company celebrated its 50th
anniversary.
Along the way, Grove took under its wing a number of well-known
lifting manufacturers including Allen of Oxford in 1970, a crane business in the
UK and National Crane of America in 1978, a leading manufacturer of truckmounted hydraulic boom cranes. By 1984 Grove was one of the biggest
crane manufacturers in America and were at this time one of Coles biggest
competitors on the world market. However in Europe they were unable to
break into this large growing and competitive market.
Above Left - John Grove (left) Joe Bellis (right) West Coast Rep. In 1963 by a
Grove, Truck mounted Hydraulic
Left - J. Martin Benchoff , Wayne A. Nicarry (right) at the Shady Grove plant on
January 9th, 1979, standing in front of the 20,000th Grove crane, an 80 ton RT
980, at the time the world’s largest rough terrain crane - beside the original 2-ton.
Below - Hydraulic Ttruck TM860 60 Ton from about 1974
GROVE TAKE THE HELM
Grove successful bid to take over what was left of the crane division (Coles) from the Acrow group was finally
accepted and they took over control in 1985.
Grove already had the small crane manufacturing plant in the Britain that had been bought in 1970, this was the firm of
John Allen company, in Cowley, Oxford. John Allen who were agricultural mechanical, electrical and general engineers and
public works contractors with 300 employees. Here Grove started building cranes to their own designs which was basically
one of their upper works made from kits supplied from Shady Grove, the parent company in America, mounted on an Italian
manufactured AT chassis. This set up was too small to be taken seriously as a European wide player. Their purpose in buying
Coles was to get a large foothold into this European crane market.
Grove were delighted with their purchase of Coles from the receiver, as they now had access to the all terrain (AT)
technology and designs. They saw this as an opportunity to pick up Coles share of the European and global markets. Groves
cranes were simple truck cranes and Rough terrain (RT) cranes which sold well in second and third world countries. However
in Western Europe the demand was for the sophisticated All Terrain (AT). Grove produced only one AT in Oxford and did not
have their own AT chassis designs. Therefore the purchase of Coles with its range of ATs and its technical experience in that
field was an obvious choice, they now had a range of AT cranes to suit the sophisticated European market demands. Also the
Sunderland design and research departments could develop that range.
On top of this they would have Coles their sales teams and a world wide client base without having to fight for it
against Coles in the open market. They also had the advantage over the old Acrow company of being able to trade in dollars
and supply from the USA as well as sterling pounds, to the rest of the world.
Right - The RT cranes that
Grove made but could not
sell in Europe - Hydra 20
Ton 4x4 1986.
Below Right - The RT
Rough Terrain crane that
Grove wanted to add to
their portfolio - Husky 36/
40 TSC 4x4x4 1987
Above -Grove became Grove
Coles with Coles written smaller
as on this leaflet for the Grove
AT865
However even as Grove began to take over control of the Acro Group the Coles management team, seeing their
golden opportunity for a managemant buyout slip from their hands, appealed to the monopolies and mergers commission for a
ruling against Grove. While this was going on small teams of selected workers were being taken back to get the stock of
almost completed cranes finished and dispatched. Quite bizarrely these people had to endure a mini trades union picket line
who supported the Coles management bid.
After a couple of weeks the monopolies and mergers commission found in favour of Grove, then it was business as
usual. Wordsworth and his team resumed their management positions now working for Grove and almost everyone who had
been made redundant got their jobs back.
A TIGHT SQUEEZE
By 1985 at the time Grove came to take over the old
Acrow company had already closed down the greater part of
the Coles owned factories. Grantham, Darlington, Glazebury
and Duisburg in Germany. Now Coles were only operating
from the Crown Works in Sunderland, although the largest of
all the Coles sites they were having to shoehorn all
manufacturing operations into the one area.
The site its self was a narrow strip of land constrained
on all sides, on one side by the looping bend of the river Wear,
on the other by factories and a high embankment. It also has
just one road access at the east end, shared with other
factories, where all deliveries had to be made. Originally this
was a good site as it also had a wharf next to the river but
delivery by river had long since stooped. The site was already
covered with plant, manufacturing sheds, storage and testing
beds even before all production pulled back into this site.
On top of all this Grove then moved its own small
crane production from Cowley in Oxford up to the Crown
Works.They then renamed the company "Grove Coles Ltd."
When Grove took over the Coles they were in the same position as Acro did
were when they took over, they had to undertake the take over quickly. Grove were an
American firm and used to working in American way, they knew the Coles products and
had probably looked at the books but had not assessed the working of the plant or how
it had been operating. Acro's reorganisation had been cut short by the recession the
Sunderland plant was not a well ordered machine.
To give a snapshot what was going on in the factory at the time of take over we can do
no better than quote the words of the man who was Production Manager for the whole
Sunderland site at this time.
“In 1995 with Grove now in charge the Crown works were manufacturing Truck
Cranes, AT Cranes, RT cranes, Mobile Cranes, Speedcranes TT cranes (only one
model) plus a range of scissor lifts and manlifts.
Some of this range was Shady Grove designed using American imperial measurements
and nuts and bolts and some of it was designed in Sunderland using the British imperial
measurement system with some metric creeping in, thye whole
thing was to say the least a bit of a nightmare. Add to that each model was designed in
isolation with no thought to commonality of parts.
Above - Crown Works in Sunderland
1. Main office block
2. Hydra Truck Assembly
3. Machine Shop
4. Machine Shop
5. Heat treatment & Maintenance
6. Reasearch and Development Dept
7. Strut Jib welding, Shot Blast
8. Foundry
9. Test and snagging area
10. Test and snagging works
11. Paint Shops
12. Sheet Metal, Cabs & Decking
13. Crane Assembly
14. New parts Dept
15. New Fabrication Dept
16. R&D Office Block
17. Crane Test Beds
18. Apprentice Training
19. Sports club.
The whole set up was compounded by the fact that the Sunderland site also contained an uneven mix of manufacturing
departments, reasonably modern Fabrication department, an out of date machine shop, a very dated Sheet Metal shop and
even is own foundry.
This choice of manufacturing capabilities caused our planners and designers to believe that every part for all the above
crane models ranges could be made in these departments or rather should be! Senior management would not entertain
outsourcing any of these parts. All this of course without any thought going to overloading these facilities. There was no critical
path analysis done or even rudimentary studies of machine capacity.
The consequence was usually mayhem with backlogs and shortages holding up production. Still we stumbled on
bringing out further new models, Mainly AT,s 635, 750, 865, 990, 1100 and 9120 (all designed and developed in Sunderland)
and loaded all their parts onto the factory for in house manufacture.
By the late 90,s the Coles RT range had been discontinued and The Grove RT (rough terrain) range was made in its
entirety in Shady Grove, the American site.
The Sunderland plant would concentrate on the AT range plus Scissor lift and Manlift units. with the occasional
Speedcrane and Truck crane thrown in. On top this Coles also had an existing contract with the Ministry of Defence to
overhaul the 315M cranes sold to them in previous years. This contract was for the total strip down, refurbishment and
upgrade of some 120 15T tone truck cranes a major contract in its self and part of the original deal. Each of these 315M
models had been supplied over many years was uniquely designed and did not have a common set of parts, each had a
different cab, top and bottom chassis, each had different axles, Ballasts, Hydraulics Decking etc., etc.. All of which became a
major manufacturing problem for in house manufacture and purchasing.
At this time the Sunderland plant made all the chassis,
superstructures boom sections lattice jibs, Slew
bearing, outriggers, cabs, decking, ballast weights, plus every
other minor item which could be produced in our facilities, for
the whole range of cranes and aerial platforms.
This situation became a planning and logistical
nightmare, which invariably caused shortages, backlogs, late
deliveries and ultimately programme rescheduling, which
reflected very badly on the plant.
Sunderland had a list of 80,000 current parts for in house
manufacture, a mind boggling number for what was a single
factoru on one relatively small site.
Above - Cranes wating to be finished in Crown Works
Above - View of main workshops - Crown Works in Sunderland
COLES NAME DISAPPEARS
The "Grove Coles" name lasted for about four
years until about 1990 when they dropped the
Coles and it became "Grove Worldwide".
During this period Grove finished remaining
orders for Coles units but gradually stopped
production of all the remaining Coles models.
Cranes from their own catalogue were
gradually substituted for the Coles models.
There was in fact much similarity between the
two companies cranes. Eventually they
decided not to produce any more truck cranes
in Europe and concentrated all production on
All Terrain cranes.
Above - Railway bridge advertisement near Coles works Sunderland
THE GERMAN QUESTION
During the 90,s the Germans were efficiency
reconstructing the country after the Berlin Wall came
down the eventual reunification East and West
Germany. East Germany needed massive
redevelopment and the reunited Germany became the
biggest construction site in Europe with a huge
demand for plant and equipment. A major part of this
requirement was for cranes and being sophisticated
Europe only AT,s would suffice.
This was the reason Grove had bought Coles.
to have access the Coles technology, their designs and
manufacturing ability to give Grove AT’s to sell.
Above - Krupp deawing of the Wilhelmshaven factory in 1954
Try as Grove did however they could not to break into this very lucrative market. This may be partly due to the fact
that the no one wanted to trade with a company that had only recently failed and perhaps with unreliable delivery due to what
was mention in the previous chapter. Also Coles still designed their cranes as individual units.
If you have a unit that breaks down hundreds of miles away it
is very useful for be able to barrow a part from a similar unit in the
range while you await the order of the spare part.
For whatever reason Grove could not break into that very
lucrative market. The German manufacturers, Leibherr, Krupp,
Gotwalt were doing very nicely. German construction companies
tended to buy German cranes. It was this frustration that lead Grove
management to come to the conclusion that if they were to get a piece
of this action they would have to acquire a German crane manufacturer.
Grove went looking for a German crane manufacturer just
when the Krupp empire decided to sell its crane division.
Above - Krupp GMT50 50 ton outside main factory
The Krupp Crane facility was based in Willhemshaven on
the site of an old U Boat plant. Prior to purchase a Coles team
visited the plant, it was an operation which Coles should have
been. This site was basically a Crane assembly plant. The only
parts manufactured there were the boom sections. Every other
part from the Chassis, Superstructure, Slew bearing, Lattice jib.
Outriggers, Cabs and Decking, plus all minor parts was bought in
from outside suppliers.
Left - Krupp assembly line from 1972
Below - Krupp AT 2025 30 Ton 1991
They had a model range of approximately fourteen AT,s where
commonality of parts was a major factor. Each model used the same
hydraulic system, chassis cab, super cab, decking, even axles, larger
models had just more of the same axles.
Grove liked what they saw and finally bought the the Krupp
Crane plant in late September 1995. They finally had German cranes to
sell to Germany. This was perhaps good for Grove but did not look so
good for the future of Coles UK and the Sunderland Plant.
THE FAR EASTERN EQUATION
In the early 1990,s Grove were also looking to
the growing far eastern market. Here they came to an
agreement with Daewoo Heavy Industries (Korea)
whereby from 1991 Daewoo would manufacture the
Coles TM (Truck Mount) 635 under license.
(similar to the arrangement Coles had used in various
parts of the world)
Later on Daewoo placed an order on the
Sunderland factory for around 20 AT9120,s and 40
AT990's with a view to manufacturing of both these
models some time in the future.
Above - Grove TMS635 1998
The AT9120 were special units because they had to be fitted with mechanisms which allowed it to detach its own
boom and place it onto a trailer for transportation. This was a specification requirement needed by Daewoo as a good many
of Korea's road bridges would not take the full weight of the AT 9120 as a complete unit.
This was a major multi million pound contract with good profit margins for the Grove company. By 1997 half of the
contract had been supplied and were working in Korea.
Left - Grove AT9120
Sometime in 1998 Daewoo
wanted to finalise the negotiations to
start the manufacture the AT9120's
and the AT990 in Korea.
For some reason, which has not
come out, these talks ended in
acrimony and a complete falling out
of the two parties which resulted in
the cancellation of the remaining
cranes, which had not yet been
supplied.
Right - Grove AT990-1998
This was a financial disaster for Grove as
they had purchased or had on order nearly all the
materials to complete the contract. This was the
tipping point for Grove UK the final straw. Grove
did not need two manufacturing plants in Europe.
Grove had to make a corporate decision. They
had a streamline site, a range of compatible parts
at the hart of Europe. And site which thought it
was expert at everything and should make
everything for production. A site still steeped in
the age old union traditions of demarcation.
Basically a tired site.
THE LAST CRANE
The last crane to be fully designed and built at the Sunderland factory was a new type of All Terrain crane, a hybrid
between the Husky and Hydra, the “Tough Terrain Truck Mounted Hydraulic Crane”. The TT865 70Ton 8x8 launched in
1997. It has to be noticed how Grove like it looks.
Although its badged as a Grove crane the is the last crane to be fully designed and built in Sunderland from concept,
design and full manufacture. Quite a few were sold into the UK and in Europe. This was an all terrain heavy truck with all
wheel drive and all wheel steering, ( It could also ‘crab’ with all wheels pointing sideways ). At the time Sunderland was the
only factory producing this concept of crane. The prefix TT stood for “Truck Terrain”, which meant that it was basically a
truck (T) crane which could traverse rough terrain, with selectable front wheel drive and all wheel steer. But it could not be
chassis driven from the crane cab.
Above - Grove TT865 70 Ton 8x8x8 launched in 1997 the last all Sunderland designed crane.
HISTORY OF COLES CRANES FINALLY ENDS
On Monday 10th Aug 1998 there wasa a
short announcement on the BBC Local News, this
marked the final chapter of the Coles story.
" Crane firm axes 670 jobs. A crane factory
in Sunderland is to close with the loss of 670 jobs.
Grove Europe Ltd, which took over the former
Coles Cranes plant on Wearside from the receivers
in 1985, has announced it is shutting down.
Staff will be laid off from November onwards and
the factory will close completely by the end of the
year. Davey Hall, spokesman for the AEEU union,
said: "It's a bitter and brutal blow to the
manufacturing industry in the North East."
Grove announced a 3 months negotiation of the closure of the Sunderland plant ( this is required by employment law
to allow work force input into suggestions to keep the business running) on the grounds that the plant was not profitable.
During this negotiation period, the Grove USA on site manager let it be known discretely that the Sunderland site had
been making a handsome profit from the Daewoo contract prior to the collapse of negotiations, which was no fault of the
work force.
He went on to suggest that in his opinion the Trades Union negotiators should be somehow, secretly made aware of
this fact and use it in their fight to keep the plant open. This was passed on to one of the senior shop stewards so he was
made aware of this revelation and suggested that he get one of his local officials to insist on examining the books with an
accountant.
Nothing however came of this. In all probability the unions as well as most of the shop floor work force realised the
mess the factory had been in for many years and if it was between closure of the Sunderland plant or the one in Germany they
knew who would be the winner.
The negotiating period expired and a 3
months closure plan was announced when all
current orders would be completed - including the
Daewoo contract cranes. The Daewoo AT9120's
were of such a complicated specification that the
last 6 of the cancelled contract were sold at
auction in Holland.
On the final day the work force all
marched out together. Many of the work force
had worked there for thirty or more years and
there was surprisingly little sadness. Many saw
the old Coles/Acro/Grove as a elderly sick
relative who end had finally come. It only really
struck home that this really was the end of a era
when the echo of work force in the sheds finally
went silent and the auctioneers moved in and
started selling all the plant and equipment.
Above - A photo in the local newspaper showing the last shift at Coles
Cranes in November 1998 Workers showed their anger as they marched
out of Grove Europe to an uncertain future.
Grove had bought Coles from the receivers in 1895 hoping to expand their business into Europe, as it turned out it
was only a stay of execution Coles. Grove had only managed to keep Coles going for another 13 years even then only by
winding the Coles side of the operation.
Coles who had employed in its heyday over two and half thousand workers at its Crown Works alone had dwindled
down to 670 at the end. By December 1998 the “Crown Works” factory finally closed it main gates. Only one department
was there at the end, the parts department, an operation kept to supply spares to the remaining Coles cranes in Europe,
Africa, Middle East & Asia Pacific. Even this department closed within 12 months Grove deciding to move it down to their
Depot at Doxford Park, the remaining staff of just 72 who wanted to move were taken down there, the remainder given
redundancy.
Coles having been at one time the Largest Mobile Crane Manufacturer in the World ceased to exist and it is no longer
possible to buy a UK built mobile crane.
Below - Crown Works site entrance as it is today, a new Industrial Park
OUT OF THE ASHES
ACROW LIVES ON SORT OF
The Thos Storey Group was privately owned company famous as the original manufacturers of the unit construction
“Bailey Bridge” system. It was owned by its founder Thos Storey until 1960, it then became part of the Acrow group. In
1984 when the Acrow group went into to receivership Fred Ellis ACMA was Managing Director of this old part of the
Acrow. He and three other directors put together a package with the help of UK venture capitalists, to rescue some of the old
Acrow company from the receivers. This action was successful and the company then became one of the UK’s first successful
Management Buyouts. In 1996 the business was acquired by the present owners from the venture capitalists and once again
became privately owned and trade under name of the “Thos Storey Group”.
CRANEPART LTD
On the closure of the Sunderland works by Grove in 1998, Brian Reynolds who had been running the parts operation
in Sunderland which covered the supply of parts to Europe, Africa, Middle East & Asia Pacific, was like the rest of his
department transferred to Duxford Park. He left in December 2000 to set up a small company just down the road from the
old Crown works. It is called “CranePart Ltd” and was set up with a few ex-Coles employees to supply parts for the many
remaining Coles cranes still operating around the world. They had the records for all the Coles cranes also a good working
knowledge of the machines themselves.
They now supply parts to the remaining Coles cranes
anywhere in the World.
You can contact CranePart through their website at
www.cranepart.co.uk
The Depot at Duxford Park, now under the Manitowoc flag, stopped supplying parts overseas from December 2006,
overseas business was transferred to call centres in France and Germany.
(not much good for Coles Cranes owners)
COSMOS CRANE COMPANY LIMITED
Unhappy with the 1972 Acrow takeover of Coles, some employees of the then called British Crane and Excavator
Corporation Ltd” left and decided to set up their own crane assembling plant in a new works. They formed a new company
called the “Cosmos Crane Company Limited”
on 22nd October 1974 setting up in a new factory close to the Ml at Alfreton, Derbyshire.
They quickly developed a 6X4 25 Ton crane
which brought together several state of the art
developments and called it the “Cosmos” (left), this was
distributed by SLD Olding. This truck crane became the
basis for a another new truck the “Crown”, ingeniously
named after Coles Sunderland factory.
Crane hirers Richards and Wallington invested
heavily in “Crown” and were joined in the project by
American construction machinery group Clark. Clark
sold “Crowns” alongside its established “Lima” cranes
before both names disappeared in favour of Clark
International. This of course marked yet more
competition although small for Coles at the time.
Cosmos went out of business in 1980, after the exit of
co-owner Clark Equipment.
GROVE WORLDWIDE.
In 2002 Grove, with manufacturing facilities in the USA and
Germany and an office in Sunderland, was acquired by North
American crane maker Manitowoc, but the Grove name lives on. Its
brand name continues unchanged under the new parent company.
MEMORIES
The crane world has moved on and cranes get ever larger and more technical but the memory of Coles
Cranes lingers on with the people who worked there or operated the cranes. A collection of clubs and reunions
have been formed by old employees of Coles as many still hold there time working there with some affection. One
such group who still gather together from time to time under the auspices of Cobblers - Coles Old Boys Been Left
and Early Retired Society.
A large reunion was held in Sunderland with former workers in 2008 and reported in the local paper. These
meeting and societies will gradually dwindle and fade away as the memories are slowly forgotten. There will be however
be the cranes that are still operating in all corners of the globe which will keep the memory alive for a while further.
Museums, Industrial preservation societies and Individuals will do their bit but there is not many people can keep
a 200 ton crane in their back yard. But they did say that about steam engines didn’t they ...........
PRESERVED COLES CRANES
Books on Cranes.
Coles 100 Years - The Growth Story Of Europe’s Leading Crane Manufacture 1879-1979 -Publisher: Coles, 1978
‘History of Cranes’ (Classic Constructions) by Oliver Bachmann. - Published by KHL International in 1997.
‘Mobile Crane Manual’ by D.H.Campbell,P.Eng update D.Dickie.P.Eng - Published by Butterworths 1985.
Places known to be preserving a Coles crane
Manchester Museum of Science and Industry UK - www.mosi.org.uk (restored Taylirs Jumbo crane)
Beamish Living Museum, County Durham UK - www.beamish.org.uk (3 Ton Steam Rail Crane)
Museum of Power, Essex UK - www.museumofpower.org.uk (Hydromibile 911)
Picture the Past. (Notts County historical photo archive) UK
www.picturethepast.org.uk (Photographs of Coles steam rail cranes at Derby works)
Wortley Top Forge & Industrial Museum, South Yorkshire UK - www.topforge.co.uk (Gladiator 25 ton rail)
REME Museum,West Berkshire UK - www.rememuseum.org.uk (Hydra 351m - Militant Mk III Recovery)
Astley Green Colliery Museum,Lancashire, UK
www.agcm.org.uk (Taylors 3 tin Speedcrane)
Abbey Farm Excavator Collection, East Yorkshire UK
http://wn.com/PriestmanCub (Collection of working Priestmans excavators)
Ian Curry. - Pembroke Gritblasting and Sandblasting.Co. UK.
www.spanglefish.com/PembrokeGritblastingandSandblasting/ (Taylors Speedcrane - still working)
Private Individuals
Wim Robijns ,Belgium. (Taylors hydracrane series 42 )
Private owner. (Taylors Series42 hydra)
Bridge & Marine Engineering Pty Ltd, - www.bridgeandmarine.com.au (working Colossus 6000)
TIME LINE FROM THE 1960’s
1962 - Coles with Taylor’s brought out the Taylor Jumbo Speed crane, soon re christened Coles Hydra. Taylor’s
42 series all wheel drive and the general purpose 50 series (book page 173) were hydraulic and rear
wheel steering.
1963 - Introduction of Coles Centurion, capacity of 100 tons.
1966 - Coles began off road cranes at the Taylor works in Glazebury A particular feature of these cranes was
the synchronised telescoping boom
1967 - First Hydra Husky rough terrain with 4 large tyres, with four wheel steering, as was the practice
in America.
1969 - Priestmans form merger with Steels Group
1969 - Factory opened in Duisburg Germany under the name of “Coles Krane”.
1970 - Whole group (previously still trading under their own names) was renamed Coles Cranes.
1971 - Coles Colossus 6000 launched with a lift of 200-tons.
1972 - Coles taken over by Acrow to save it from hostile takeover and threat of closure.
1973 - Hydraulic LH10000 with 121 tonne capacity brought out.
1978 - Coles launch the Hydramobile 911 built at Darlington. Colossus port tower introduced for use
with L1000 range of cranes
1979 - 100 years book published as publicity celebrating the centenary of Coles
1983 - To control financial losses Coles closed Grantham and Glazenbury and German factories.
1984 - Closedown Darlington.
1985 - Coles Cranes taken over in October from the receivers by Grove Europe Ltd.
1995 - Grove purchase crane division from “Krupp Industries Ltd”
1998 - Sunderland factory finally closes ending the Coles story.
Not only the end of Coles
rather sadly the model that
got me the job at Sunderland.
It fell several feet while I was
getting it down from the attic.
The end of an another era.
THANKS
I would like to thank all those who supplied information for this book especially :Peter Cooper, Brian Reynolds, Peter Allison, Bill Bromwich, Richard Blokker.
Bill Holland, Management Today, Sunderland Echo,
Also many others for supplying pictures and personal recollections that have helped peace together
these the last days of Coles Cranes.
Anyone who feels there are any serious omissions, mistakes, or relevant additional material please feel free to
contact me and we’ll get it put into a revised addition.
I would especially like to hear from anyone who knows about the closure of the Glazenbury and Darlington works.
Contact can be made through the Coles Crane website.
About the Author
My early years were spent hunched over a drawing board as an apprentice in an
architects office, whilst studying part time for exams. I had always made models and it was
here that I first got paid to make architectural models. Convinced I had failed my final exams
and generally fed up with life in a very small town, I packed my job in and took the train to
Scotland. There was no money to get any further away. No plans except an invite to set up a
pottery at a holiday art school.
It was a fun time but then inevitably winter came and you have to be very very
waterproof to stay in Scotland in the winter. I came back and looked for a job. I saw an
advert for a model maker in Sunderland, so I applied. Had to look up where Sunderland
was when I got an interview. Much to my surprise I got the Job. So I was the official model
maker to the British Crane and Excavator Corporation Ltd, otherwise known to everybody
as Coles Cranes.
Leaving that job to become a teacher I was enticed back into architecture by the
lure of money and the promise that I would not have to face a class marauding children
every morning. Then computers came along I became a CAD (Computer Aided Design)
manager. Strangely I ended up building schools for a number of years. After redundancy I
did few years of contract work and one of my final jobs was working with the team building
the National Ice Centre. After that I decided to hang up my T-square.
Anthony J Kemp
This gave me time for some of
my other interests. One of
which ended up with the Coles
Crane website and these books
about cranes.
Oh and one final model crane,
the first Husky.(right)